Teen Witch | |
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Directed by | Dorian Walker |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Marc Reshvosky |
Edited by | Natan Zahavi |
Music by |
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Production company | |
Distributed by | Trans World Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.5 million |
Box office | $27,843 |
Teen Witch is a 1989 American teen fantasy comedy film directed by Dorian Walker, written by Robin Menken and Vernon Zimmerman, and starring Robyn Lively and Zelda Rubinstein. The plot follows Louise, a teenage girl who discovers she is a witch and gains powers on her 16th birthday.
Originally pitched as a female version of Teen Wolf (1985), it was later reworked into a standalone spin-off film of its own. The film features numerous impromptu musical numbers, including rap sequences, and has since become a cult classic, [1] [2] aided by midnight theater showings and regular cable television airings (including through annual showings as part of ABC Family/Freeform's 13 Nights of Halloween ). The film is also popular for its music and 1980s fashion nostalgia. [1]
Fifteen-year-old Louise Miller longs to be popular and catch the eye of high school quarterback Brad Powell. However, Brad dates cheerleader Randa, and Louise is seen as an uncool underclassman with a similarly unpopular best friend, Polly. During English class, Louise is mocked by her mean-spirited teacher Mr. Weaver, who makes fun of a page from her diary that got accidentally stuck to her assignment. That night, after an unsuccessful audition for a part in a school play, Louise is bicycling home. Brad is driving but gets distracted by his passenger Randa, causing him to inadvertently run Louise off the road with his convertible.
In search of a phone to use, Louise enters the home of Madame Serena, a seer. Serena convinces Louise to do a palm reading, and tells her she is a witch who will develop powers on her sixteenth birthday. On Louise's birthday the following week, no one shows up to her party. Polly informs Louise that most of their peers went to another party thrown by Randa. That night, Louise tosses and turns in her bed as she recalls Serena's prophecy that she will soon gain powers. At school the next day, Louise's theater teacher, Ms. Malloy, gives her a necklace with an amulet that she finds among the costumes, and tells Louise she believes the amulet will bring her luck.
Immediately, Louise feels different and begins to wear the amulet regularly. Soon afterward, Randa invites Louise to attend a school dance with her cousin, David. Louise feels stuck with David, an insufferable, handsy nerd, but she is able to make him disappear at her command and manifests Brad coming over to talk to her. When she comes home, she accidentally turns her younger brother Richie into a dog when he mocks her, but she manages to change him back to his human self by throwing him into a bath. Louise later learns from Serena that she is the reincarnation of Modesty Miller, a witch born in 1636, and that the amulet she wears belonged to Modesty.
Serena gives Louise a book of magic spells to study and she learns to harness her powers by calling the wind and rain. She casts a love spell to make Brad fall for her. Louise then exacts revenge on Mr. Weaver by undressing a voodoo doll made in Weaver's image, embarrassing him in front of the whole class. She also uses her powers to help Ms. Malloy find true love and wealth, and to help Polly gain the courage to challenge fellow student Rhet in an informal rap battle. Louise asks for Serena's help to make her the most popular girl in school, and shows her a picture of her favorite pop star, Shana, for inspiration. Serena makes a potion, but to complete the spell, explains she needs an item belonging to the singer. Louise uses her powers to go backstage during Shana's concert, where Shana, under a spell, gives Louise her jacket.
Thereafter, everyone at school worships and emulates Louise, and Brad takes immediate notice. After school, Brad takes Louise to an abandoned house where he gives her the kiss she has long hoped for. However, Louise starts to wonders if Brad truly likes her or if he is only attracted to the popularity her powers summon. At school, Louise continues to ascend the social ladder, alienating Polly. She also accidentally wishes herself into the lead role of the school play by telling the original lead to break a leg. Later, Brad asks Louise to the dance, but Louise, feeling guilt-ridden from injuring a classmate and using magic to gain popularity, declines his invitation. Louise attempts to look for a way to reverse all the spells, but Serena explains that the real key to magic is believing in oneself. Serena accompanies Louise to the dance, where Louise gives the amulet to Serena and commits to being her true self. Upon seeing Louise, Brad crosses the dance floor to be with her. He and Louise dance together and kiss, with Brad showing he really likes Louise for who she is and not because of her magic.
The idea for the film was initially conceived as a gender-flipped version of Teen Wolf , but during development was reworked into a standalone film. [3] The script for the film was written by Robin Menken and Vernon Zimmerman. The first draft was raunchier and more in the style of a teen sex comedy like Porky's , but producer Alana H. Lambros and director Dorian Walker excised the racy elements to make the PG-13 film they desired. [3] Walker and Lambros also wanted musical sequences to be added into the script. Lambros had connections in the music industry and met with Larry Weir, the songwriter for The Weir Brothers. [3] Weir composed the song "Popular Girl" shortly after their meeting and agreed to pen the remainder of the songs. Walker brought on Robert Banas, a dancer in West Side Story , to choreograph the dance scenes. [3]
Debbie Gibson was the original choice for the role of Louise, but negotiations with the singer fell through before she could be cast. [3]
Principal photography began on November 25, 1988. [3] The film was shot in the Los Angeles area. High school scenes were filmed at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale over the school's winter break, with real students being used as extras. [3] [4]
During post-production, an early cut of the film was screened at the American Film Market to gauge the interest of foreign buyers. Reception was enthusiastic, and Moshe Diamante, the co-owner of the film's distributor Trans World Entertainment, mandated that more scenes be added to increase the film's production value. According to Lambros, Diamante said, "'We need to make this picture bigger! We have to put in more music and more scenes!'" [3] Producer Rafael Eisenman was brought in to oversee the added filming. [3] The added scenes included the "Top That!" rap battle sequence [5] [3] and the love scene at the abandoned house. [6] [7]
Teen Witch was released in the United States on April 23, 1989, and grossed $3,875 in its opening weekend at the box office, and only $27,843 in its entire run against its production budget of $2.5 million. [8] April 1989 box office competition included Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner and Pet Sematary written by Stephen King. Both films were released on April 21, 1989, two days before Teen Witch was released. [9]
Upon release, the film was panned by critics, including Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times who called it "complete with teen wish-fulfillment fantasies, condescending moralizing, asinine musical montages, horrifying pop songs, French kissing, blatant product plugs and Dick Sargent (formerly of Bewitched )." [10] TV Guide pointed out the predictability of the film and concluded, "Notwithstanding its supernatural elements, the film is basically a standard teenage love story (a squeaky clean one at that) with several unmemorable musical numbers thrown in." [11] Variety wrote "the comedy potential...is limited in this well-intentioned, young teen vehicle burdened by a nice message and a predictable outcome", but said where the film stands out is "its bouncy score, provided by and Larry and Tom Weir". [12]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 43% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10.The website's consensus reads: "While drenched in upbeat messages and heart, the wonders of high school, love, and magic often don't meld well enough for this inoffensive Teen Witch." [13]
The film performed much better on home video and overseas. [3] It gradually became a cult classic, having gained newer, younger audiences after regular airings on premium and basic cable networks such as HBO, Cinemax, and Disney Channel [3] in the 1990s. [1] [14] [2] [15] [7] Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post stated, "There are good movies, there are bad movies, there are movies that are so bad they're good and then there is Teen Witch – a cult classic that defies classification thanks to a curious combination of songs, spells and skin." [1] Joshua John Miller, commenting on his involvement with the film as the character Richie, said, "If you look at Teen Witch, it was a very campy performance. But it's a really fun film and something I have grown to honor." [2] The film has been celebrated in midnight movie screenings. [7] [16] The hosts of the film podcast How Did This Get Made? are avowed fans of the film, praising the strange musical numbers and Miller's performance as Richie in particular. [17]
There are parodies or homages of the film, especially of its rap song "Top That" (including an homage starring Alia Shawkat). [15] [18] Drew Grant of Nerve.com stated, "If you've never seen the original rap scene from the 80s classic Teen Witch, you must immediately stop what you're doing and watch it right now. It's everything wonderful and terrible about that decade rolled into one misguided appropriation of... hip-hop." [18] Stephanie Marcus of The Huffington Post called "Top That" "the worst song of all time." [19]
In a 1998 retrospective review, Ada Calhoun of The Austin Chronicle praised the film, calling it "so Eighties it hurts". [20] She added, "Between the dearth of character actors, the valuable lessons learned, and the textbook backfiring of good intentions, some may scoff. They would, however, be in the wrong, for this is a masterpiece of both the teen and witch genres. Louise the nerd, bubbling over with sexual energy and social ambition, becomes cool. Louise the witch, erratically powerful, learns how to rightly use her strength. Teen Witch is an all-around delicious flick, both despite and because of the afterschool special quality of its message." [20] In an article for The A.V. Club , Marah Eakin discussed how the film is "a fun escape". [21]
In 2007, ABC Family (now Freeform) acquired the basic cable television rights to the film, and has since made it a regular offering of its annual 13 Nights of Halloween holiday block. [22]
A soundtrack album for Teen Witch was never released because financial backers of the film had neglected to provide funding for one. [16] [23] Because of the limited funding, many of the tracks were sung by members of the Weir family. [7] By the early 2000s, the master audio tapes had become unavailable. [7] [24] [25] In 2006, The Weir Brothers collaborated with Teen Witch producer Alana H. Lambros for Teen Witch the Musical, which used new cast members to sing the songs. [7] An audio CD of the re-recorded songs was released in 2007. [24] [25]
The songs heard in the film are as follows: [23] [26]
Award | Category | Name | Result | Ref. |
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Young Artist Awards | Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture | Joshua John Miller | Nominated | [28] |
Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture | Robyn Lively | Nominated |
On July 12, 2005, MGM released the film to DVD in its original widescreen theatrical version with no special features. [29] On March 21, 2017, Kino Lorber released a Blu-ray edition. [29] The edition included an audio commentary track and new interviews with Robyn Lively, Mandy Ingber, Dan Gauthier, and Joshua John Miller.
Producer Alana H. Lambros envisioned a Broadway musical adaptation, and three different versions of the production were considered: a Teen Witch the Musical concert with just the music, a theme park version for Universal Studios, and a two-act musical with Broadway aspirations. [7] Teen Witch the Musical was presented in workshop in 2006. [25] [30] In 2007, the audio CD for Teen Witch the Musical was released. [25] [31]
The cast of Teen Witch the Musical: [24] [31] [32]
In April 2008, Variety reported that Ashley Tisdale signed with FremantleMedia North America and was in talks with United Artists to star in a remake of Teen Witch, but no further developments transpired. [33]
In 2013 and 2017, live versions of Teen Witch: The Musical were staged by Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings. [34] [35]
Heathers is a 1988 American teen black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, and Penelope Milford. Its plot portrays four teenage girls—three of whom are named Heather—in a clique at an Ohio high school, one of whose lives is disrupted by the arrival of a misanthrope intent on murdering the popular students and staging their deaths as suicides.
Grease is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers and set in 1959 at the fictional Rydell High School in Northwest Chicago, the musical follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values, and love. Theatre scholar Kurt Gänzl stated that "Grease was the ingenuous and gently parodic successor to the equally ingenuous but scarcely parodic college musicals of the Good News (1927) and Leave It to Jane (1917) school of earlier years."
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling from a screenplay by Cameron Crowe, based on his 1981 book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, and starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Brian Backer, Robert Romanus, and Ray Walston. Crowe went undercover at Clairemont High School in San Diego and wrote about his experiences.
Say Anything... is a 1989 American teen romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe. The film follows the romance between Lloyd Dobler, an average student, and Diane Court, the class valedictorian, immediately after their graduation from high school.
Serena Celia van der Woodsen Humphrey is a fictional character and the protagonist in the Gossip Girl novel series and in its TV adaptation, in which she is portrayed by Blake Lively. Serena is featured on the blog of the series' mysterious narrator, "Gossip Girl". Serena is known as the "it girl of Manhattan" and appears to easily get whatever she wants because of her captivating beauty and charismatic personality. She is the daughter of a successful doctor and a well-known socialite/heiress.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch is an American fantasy sitcom series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina Spellman which shares the title of the 1971 comic book series Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Created by Nell Scovell and developed by Jonathan Schmock, the series premiered on September 27, 1996, on ABC to over 17 million viewers in its "T.G.I.F." lineup.
Blake Ellender Lively is an American actress. A daughter of actor Ernie Lively, she made her professional debut in his directorial project Sandman (1998). She had her breakthrough role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and its 2008 sequel. Lively achieved recognition for her portrayal of Serena van der Woodsen in the CW teen drama television series Gossip Girl (2007–2012).
Fiona Horne is the former lead singer of 1990s Australian electro-rock band, Def FX, before continuing on to author several best-selling books on Modern Witchcraft. She is a popular radio and television personality, appearing on many programs around the world. She is now a commercial pilot, humanitarian aid worker, world record holding skydiver, professional fire dancer, yoga instructor and freediver.
Ursula is a fictional character and the main antagonist who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film The Little Mermaid (1989). Voiced by actress Pat Carroll, Ursula is a villainous Cecaelian sea witch who offers her youngest niece, mermaid princess Ariel, a temporary opportunity to become human so that she may earn the love of Prince Eric within three days. However, Ursula, in fact, is determined to sabotage Ariel's chances in order to usurp her older brother King Triton's position as ruler of the oceans.
Robyn Elaine Lively Johnson is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the 1989 films Teen Witch and The Karate Kid Part III, as well as the TV shows Doogie Howser, M.D., Twin Peaks, Savannah, and Saving Grace.
Serena Berman is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has done voice-over work for animated series and films. She voiced Elyon Brown in the Disney show W.I.T.C.H. as a teenager, and she has guest starred in shows such as Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and Justice League. She appeared in the romantic comedy film Set It Up which stars Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell.
Not Quite Human 2 is a 1989 American science fiction comedy television film written and directed by Eric Luke and starring Jay Underwood, Alan Thicke, and Robyn Lively. As the second of three films in a series based on the Not Quite Human novels by Seth McEvoy, it follows the social development of an android that is designed to appear human, this time as he enrolls in college and is on his own for the first time. The filming locations were Arizona State University, Tempe High School, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Phoenix.
Alexandra Anna Daddario is an American actress. She had her breakthrough portraying Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson film series (2010–2013). She has since starred in Hall Pass (2011), Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), San Andreas (2015), Baywatch (2017), and We Summon the Darkness (2019).
Dallas Children's Theater (DCT) is a professional theater organization based in Dallas, Texas, that focuses on producing theater for youth and families. It reaches an audience of 250,000 youth annually with its nine main stage productions, national touring company, and education programs. In 2004 Time magazine named it one of the top five theaters in the country performing for youth.
Who Is Simon Miller? is a 2011 American spy family television film directed by Paolo Barzman and starring Robyn Lively, Loren Dean, Skyler Day, Drew Koles, and Christine Baranski. It is the seventh film in the wheel series Family Movie Night
No Sad Songs for Me is a 1950 film directed by Rudolph Maté, featuring Margaret Sullavan in her last film role as a woman dying of cancer. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music Scoring in 1951. The sentimental film is known as a post-war Hollywood tearjerker.
Cindy Valentine is an Italian-born composer, producer, actress and performing artist, raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada who is now a U.S. citizen, residing primarily in New York, New York. Valentine hit the Billboard Dance/Club charts in 1989 with "Secret Rendez-Vous" and "Pick Up the Pieces ", both songs co-written by Tony Green and Cindy Valentine. Valentine also co-wrote the songs, "Finest Hour" and "Never Gonna Be the Same Again" for the 1989 Halloween classic, Teen Witch and played the part of Shana the Rock Star in the film. As a composer and performer, additional soundtrack credits include: Repossessed (1990), Mannequin Two: On the Move (1991), and Another 9 1/2 Weeks (1997).
Heather Youmans is an American dancer and singer-songwriter known for her soundtrack work on the feature films, Moondance Alexander (2007), Flicka 2 (2010) and Marley & Me: The Puppy Years (2011). Youmans recently appeared on I Can See Your Voice episode 4 (FOX), other live performances include a UNICEF benefit opening solo ahead of headliners Sting and Natalie Cole in 2005, a National Anthem performance for the Los Angeles Kings on New Year's Eve 2019, and Parade magazine's, She Rocks Spotlight Series, in 2020. Her work has been featured in American Songwriter magazine, Forbes Women and Parade magazine profiled her career and music in 2020. Youmans holds an MBA and is publicist with Fender Guitars, she has written for the Los Angeles Times, and the Orange County Register.
Lisa Fuller is an American actress best known for her work in movies such as The Monster Squad (1987) and Night Life (1989). She also starred in the movie Teen Witch (1989).
The Teen Wolf franchise consists of American supernatural-teen drama installments released through various media including: two theatrical films and an animated television series based on the movies; a live-action reboot show, its streaming exclusive movie continuation, and a spin-off series which follows the ending of the film. Based on an original story by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman, the plot of each release centers around adolescent individuals who are not a part of the popular crowd amongst their peers, whose lives change once they become werewolves allowing them to gain superhuman abilities. The franchise additionally includes a 1989 standalone spin-off film that was initially released in theaters which centers around a teenage witch, as well as its stage musical adaptation.
And while everyone born after 1999 thinks of star Robyn Lively as Blake's older sister, those in the know are hep to the fact that Robyn is not only the Most Popular Girl, but also the best/worst dressed witch in the history of teen cinema.
Teen Witch (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)
Actor's roles from video of acting workshop